Points made by a spokesman for companies producing GM crops, including
Monsanto, Bayer CropScience and Syngenta

Developing world farmers are readily adopting GM technology. More than six
million farmers worldwide in 2002 chose to grow GM crops.

GM crops can produce more food from the same area of land. An 80 per cent
increase in yields claimed for GM cotton grown in India.

In the future, GM products could help alleviate malnourishment and
illness. GM products such as "Golden Rice" are being developed that are
enriched with carotenoids, which humans convert to vitamin A.

Planting of herbicide-resistant oilseed rape and sugar beet did not result
in any outcrossing or weed formation as "volunteers" during a 10-year study.

Despite 55,000 tests looking for gene transfer of herbicide resistance
from oilseed rape to supposedly compatible weeds, such as charlock,
surrounding and within the UK farm-scale trials, none were observed.

As much as 14 million kg of farm chemicals need not be used if half of the
European Union's major crops (maize, oilseed rape, sugar beet and cotton) were
converted to GM production.

A huge weight of evidence indicates improved yields from crops already
commercialised and those being researched.

Economic benefits are immense and growing. The Australian Bureau of
Agricultural Resource Economics suggests the worldwide adoption of GM crops
could boost the overall income of all regions by US$316bn (#192bn) by 2015.

EU laws on GM have been strengthened over the decade to maintain
protection of human health and the environment while maintaining a unified
market for biotechnology.

Points made by a spokesman for companies producing GM crops, including
Monsanto, Bayer CropScience and Syngenta